


all the things he said.

by Prettything_uglylie



Series: fictober 2019 [6]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Pennywise (IT) Being an Asshole, This happened in the townhouse the first night change my mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-02 00:54:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21152903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prettything_uglylie/pseuds/Prettything_uglylie
Summary: Pennywise takes familiar forms often.





	all the things he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Catchinggggg up on Fictoberrrrrrrrrr!

It is one of those nights where Richie cannot sleep. He isn't terribly surprised by the fact that he cannot sleep seeing as there is the threat put down point-blank that he will either fight to kill this clown or they will die; it makes it hard to sleep. 

Then again, Richie has never been able to be too easy on sleep. Sleep has never found him well. 

He travels down the stairs of the townhouse to the lounge room, slumping over onto the couch as he makes himself take the purchase of the remote to flick on aimless television. When he clicks at the remote, he is still turned to a show that looks to be a child's show and even when he attempts to change the channel a little over half a dozen times but the channel makes the movement switch. He even hits the off button but the show doesn't falter as though possessed by its own demons - that thought alone sends chills up Richie Tozier's spine. 

"Damn," A low whistle echoes through the lower part of the townhouse and Richie surprises himself with how quickly he spins head around. Bill Denbrough's features look both strange and familiar in the light cast by the TV; his blue eyes hold a tinge of a different color for a moment and his features look wrong in the glow for a second, like bone is shifting rapidly beneath his skin. Richie blinks away the thought quickly because...because this is Bill, Richie trusts this man with his life. Said man seems to chuckle to himself before saying, "Looks like I'm not alone." 

Richie tries for a chuckle himself but it comes out stilted and nervous, and it makes Bill regard him almost nervously. Bill passes in front of the television and with the glow of the program upon Bill\s silvering locks, Richie is snapped back into himself. He can't believe how tall Bill feels to them despite realistically being about 5'7" but Richie supposes that's what idol worship feels like -- or, in Richie's case, residue of more than hero worship. 

Bill has left marks on all of them; lips a promise ring on Stan's slit wrists, Bill's sticky, bubblegum kiss a residue on his cheek that he can't get rid of, Bill's sure arms wrapped around Bev that night that they had all gotten a bit stoned and she almost took a tumble off of the quarry on the first night of their summer break in Grade 10, his hand on Ben's back to guide him carefully while still letting him make his moves, Bill's own fingers coming up to brush against his plump lips and pouring a stain on Mike's voyeuristic eyes at Jade of the Orient. Bill's arms wrapping around Eddie whenever the smaller boy would allow him to hug him. Bill's hands clutching at him during fights and Richie is almost certain that he will never recover from the bruises. 

Boys like Bill Denbrough were born to break or make hearts whether they wanted to or not. 

"Can't sleep," he excuses despite assuming that Bill has likely already come to that conclusion by his mere presence downstairs. 

Bill doesn't seem to mind or take his stupidity into consideration when he responds, "Can't either...get too distracted." 

Richie's gut twists at the way that Bill has not looked away from the television as the woman who speaks, children surrounding her on both sides, of going to the sewers to "have a fun time with friends" - Richie is sure that he isn't imagining it but it still makes him worried. How many people see this? How many people listen to these? Is this even real? 

Why is Bill staring so intently? 

Stomach filled with anxious coils, he tries to continue the conversation so Bill will look at him, "What's distracting you tonight, Big Bill? 

Bill turns suddenly, looking at him to explain and then, he answers with a weird undertone of glee in his solemn tone, "Want a distraction, Rich... wanna not be alone...Will you help me?" 

And that's it; that is the question that has been thrown around so often. Will they help Bill? Will he help Bill? It's been a question pulled to the forefront of his mind when a green and bleeding-from-the-stomach Ben Hanscom had teasingly asked him, "So, uh, you guys would really go to war for Bill, huh?" And he had wondered but he had replied the same thing he replies now, 

"Absolutely." 

And like a switch is flipped, Bill pulls his shirt over his head. Richie's frozen, he can't breathe, chest heavy and it doesn't help when Bill clambers into Richie's lap. There is something about the action that feels stranger than just having Bill shirtless in his lap, a voice in Richie's head notes, Bill clambers into his lap like there is more than just 5'7" of legs. 

His alarm bells begin to raise even more when he settles his hands on the small of Bill's back so the clambering doesn't lead to him falling. The skin there is cold to the touch in a way that it shouldn't be from moments of being bare to the rather warm townhouse air. 

And Bill - "Bill" smells repugnant. Something dank, rotten and almost dead lingers on his skin where Richie is used to Bill smelling like the Quarry, jasmine or lavender. 

Bill's wearing jeans. It crashes down on him suddenly but Bill would not be wearing jeans at 3 am if he had even been attempting to sleep. 

Wrong, wrong, wrong; it's all wrong. 

"You're right," a voice coming from the body in his lap agrees to the internal debate he had been having and he tries to move away but the weight is heavy on his lap. 

Then the voice turns into something too familiar and "Bill"'s head leans back and the shift... He freezes, It has shifted into his Eds. 

"What, Rich?" Eddie says and though Richie knows this is not him, he is still shocked to have Eddie this close. He can see the phantoms of freckles on his cheeks that likely if Richie guesses or remembers correctly, pop up during the summertime and Richie is lost in those galaxies flecked over him. If Bill's freckles were like paint splattered over his cheeks then Eddie's were stars, Eddie's were constellations. Eddie has sprinkles of the constellations on his cheeks to mark where he is supposed to return to after everything here is done but if it was needed, Richie Tozier would reach into the cosmos and set them at Eddie's feet to make him happy. 

Eddie's pretty face, however, starts to morph into something more heinous, something spiteful and out for blood before Eddie starts on him, practically spitting his words, "It's been 27 years and you haven't moved on?!? God, Richie, you're such a fucking loser." 

Richie stutters, sounding like Stuttering Bill and though he really knows that this isn't Eddie, it still shatters a piece of him deeply and makes his eyes begin to water. This can't be right, it's Pennywise, he tries to make himself believe it but the gem that actually comes through and makes him steady a bit: Eddie would never be so mean. 

"Not quite done yet," the body says and then whips forward, shaking and sure, Richie is not terribly religious but he is begging to whatever God exists to be left alone but Pennywise hasn't tired itself out yet. 

The new figure he pulls back to see isn't automatically recognizable. He seems familiar with the way that the name Derry felt rolling off his tongue back on the night Mike called him like he doesn't know what's going on or what it is but it makes him feel weird. The distraught and golden curls, the wide hazel eyes, the kippah and -- It's Stan. It's Stanley Uris, Stan the Man, Stanley Urine. 

With his wrists dripping. 

His wrists sliced into crassly while "he" leans back and Stan starts screaming, "You left me! You all-!" 

His face drops, completely boneless in a haunting way and Stan's voice is false and somber when Pennywise uses Stan's body to say, "Bill killed me...Bill's love killed me and you did nothing!" 

And Richie shoves, not for the first time but this time, Pennywise budges. 

The moment he's up, Richie's on his way to scramble up the stairs as Pennywise, from Its position there, shouts after him, "Come again! Tell your friends!" 

* * *

He doesn't sleep that night. 

* * *

He doesn't tell the others; never does, never will. Richie Tozier has perfected the art of hiding. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Comments and kudos feed my crops!!!


End file.
